Gioco d'Azzardo
by Mirus Infidus
Summary: The odds of Kuwabara speaking Italian are about as high as Yeong-ha shaving his head. That's what Hikaru's counting on.


**Note: Suyeong is using Korean honorifics as opposed to Japanese ones, though they are speaking Japanese.**

_**Seongsaeng **_**is the equivalent of **_**sensei.**_

_**Ssi **_**is the equivalent of **_**san.**_

((()))

"Kuwabara-seonsaeng is amazing," Suyeong said in awe. He had come back to Japan for training at the Japanese Go Institute, and was currently eating lunch with Hikaru—Waya and Fuku were supposed to have come, too, but they had flaked out at the last minute, much to Hikaru's chagrin.

A little bitter with the boy after having found out that he'd known Yeongha's true intentions all along and had said nothing, Hikaru bit back, "He looks like a monkey."

Suyeong could feel the hostility directed towards him, but ignored it, telling himself that he and Hikaru were buddies—no hard feelings between them. "He's probably one of the most skilled players to still be playing. He's so smart, too!"

Hikaru rolled his eyes, taking a drink of his soda. "He says whatever comes into his head, and since he's so old everybody acts like it's something really wise."

"I didn't know you thought so poorly of Kuwabara-seonsaeng, Shindou-ssi_,_" Suyeong said. His intentions were 100 percent innocent. He didn't mean to rile up the boy, but his words seemed to have had that effect.

"I do not!" Hikaru snapped. "But, really, he's just another Go player, isn't he? Just another title holder. There are always going to be title holders, and most of them are going to be as old as Kuwabara-sensei. He's nothing special." Hikaru proceeded to dissect his hamburger, not really in the mood to eat.

"Shindou-ssi, he's more than just a title holder. He really is an incredible person. Did you know he can whistle with crackers in his mouth?" As if to demonstrate, Suyeong stuck a couple of French fries in his mouth and tried to whistle; Hikaru doubted the boy could whistle anyway.

"No, I didn't know that," Hikaru replied. "How would you know it?"

Suyeong swallowed the fries and shrugged. "He was having a game in the Room of Profound Darkness, and I was allowed to watch it on the television. He played so well that I wanted to talk to him when the game had ended."

"Oh, so you're a little Kuwabara fan?" Hikaru said snidely. "What else did he tell you? He can juggle flaming pins while riding a unicycle blindfolded?"

Suyeong chuckled nervously, noting the mounting bitterness in the boy's voice. "Well, not quite that. He did say that he can ride a unicycle, though. And I saw him juggle some stones after the game."

"Of course. Of course he can." Finally just smashing his hamburger, he wrapped it up in the paper and rolled it to the edge of the tray. "I bet he speaks Italian, too, huh?"

Suyeong thought for a moment, and then said, "He probably can. He's traveled all over the world to play Go, after all. He speaks Korean very well," he added.

"Well, what do you expect?" Hikaru growled. He couldn't care less about Kuwabara's skills outside of Go; he just wanted to be contradictory. "Korea is huge player in the Go world. He probably speaks Chinese as well! There's no way he speaks Italian, though. Don't idolize him so much."

"Shindou-ssi, you shouldn't underestimate people. He is a very worldly man; I'll bet he does speak Italian!"

"Yeah, right. He speaks Italian just as well as I speak Norwegian."

"Go is becoming very popular in Italy! Kuwabara-seonsaeng likely can speak at least a little."

"Sorry to crush your dreams, Hong Suyeong, but there is no way that that old geezer can."

"He can too!" Although Suyeong had been doing his best over the years to try to keep his temper in check and always remain—if not quite cordial—civil, he still sometimes lost it.

"Not a chance." Hikaru waved his hand, as if batting away the argument.

"Of course he can!"

"No."

"Yes! Yes, Shindou-ssi, yes!"

"Hong-san, I bet you 5,000 yen that he can't."

"I accept! You'd better start counting out your money, because you're going to be wrong!"

Hikaru chuckled. "You'd better make sure that all the money you're going to be giving me is yen. Don't cheat me with your won and pretend you didn't notice."

"I won't! It is you who should make sure he pays up fair and square!"

The boys glared at each other over the table in the fast food restaurant for thirty straight seconds. The tension between them was palpable, and one little girl tugged her mother's shirt and asked if they could sit "away from the scary boys."

Just as Suyeong's concentration started faltering and the harsh possibility of having to fork up 5,000 yen was sinking in, something caught his eye. "Look!" he said, pointing out the front window. "It's Kuwabara-seonsaeng!"

"Kuwabara-sensei!"

In a flash, the two leapt out of their chairs and sped towards the exit. A newly hired employee sighed when she saw them split; it was going to be up to her to clean up the mess they had left on the table.

Hikaru swung the door open, nearly hitting Suyeong in the face. Luckily Suyeong ducked under his arm and headed towards Kuwabara. "Hey!" Hikaru shouted.

"Kuwabara-seonsaeng!" Suyeong called.

Kuwabara turned around slowly, as was common for folks his age. "Ah, Hong-kun. Oh, and Shindou-kun. Hello, both of you. How are you today?"

"Fine," Suyeong said quickly.

"Yeah, fine," Hikaru echoed.

"Kuwabara-seonsaeng, we need you to do us a favor," explained Suyeong.

"Yeah, we need you to do something for us."

Kuwabara scratched his head lazily. "What could it be, boys?"

The two looked at each other and nodded. Suyeong said, "Do you speak Italian?"

"Do I speak Italian?" Kuwabara repeated.

"Yeah, do you?" Hikaru asked. "Hong-san here thinks that you can, but I don't, and we've got 5,000 yen riding on this. So, come on, tell us plainly that you don't."

Mischief twinkled in the old man's eye. Looking straight at Hikaru, he said cooly, _"__Se non è vero, è ben trovato." _Hikaru stared back at the man dumbfounded. Suyeong smiled triumphantly. "Are you two satisfied?" asked Kuwabara.

"I knew you could!" Suyeong exclaimed happily. "See, Shindou-ssi? Kuwabara-seonsaeng really _is_ amazing!"

Kuwabara grinned. "Now, Shindou-kun, I believe you owe our young Korean friend some money."

Hikaru grumbled something inaudibly, not wanting Kuwabara to hear him call the younger boy something less-than friendly. He dug into his pocket, pulling out one 1,000 yen bill and about 700 yen in coins. He slammed the money into Suyeong's hand and muttered, "I'll get you the rest tomorrow."

Although feeling rather pleased with himself, Suyeong didn't forget his manners, and bowed and thanked the boy for the money. "Yeah, whatever," Hikaru said. He turned away. "I'm going to head home, I need to study." He stalked off down the block, leaving Suyeong and Kuwabara alone. Naturally, he felt even more resentment towards Suyeong than he had before.

Suyeong looked happily at the money in his hands, and then put it into his pocket. Looking up at Kuwabara, he asked, "What did that mean? What you said, what did it mean?"

Kuwabara looked down at the boy, his eyes alight. "I don't know," he said bluntly.

Suyeong cocked his head to the side. "You don't—what?" He put his hand into his pocket, fingering Hikaru's money. "Then that means—so did Shindou-ssi…"

Patting the boy's head, Kuwabara smiled. "Don't you worry about Shindou-kun. He'll bounce back quickly; he's the type to laugh about it all next week. In the meantime, why don't you just use this little extra money and enjoy your time here in Japan?"

Feeling a little guilty—and, he hated to admit, pretty pleased—Suyeong thanked Kuwabara and scampered away to obey the man's advice.

((()))

**Author's Note: **_**"**__**Se non è vero, è ben trovato," **_**means "Even if it's not true, it's a good story." It's an Italian proverb; Kuwabara must have heard it somewhere before. Or does he really speak Italian and is messing with both Hikaru and Suyeong? **

**I don't think Suyeong actually uses Korean honorifics when he's speaking Japanese in the manga, but please indulge me, and believe me when I say it's been a while since Suyeong's spoken Japanese, so the Korean honorifics come easier to him no matter what language he's speaking.**

**As far as exchange rates are concerned, the won is worth a lot less than the yen. If Suyeong had given Hikaru 5,000 won, it'd be the equivalent of around 360 yen. Yay, Hikaru could buy a loaf of bread with that~**

**Conversely, 5,000 yen is around 68,000 won. Yay, Suyeong could buy a nice pair of shoes with that~**


End file.
